Legal Question in Administrative Law in Georgia

For the most part, the answer to the last few words of your post is yes. No, the lender had no obligation to contact you or do anything else unless it is in the contract. They just want their money, on time. It also looks like you dropped the ball for a year by not following up on the refinance (which is an odd agreement anyway). There is a reason she needed a co-signer -- poor credit. It was an expensive lesson, and if you are still on the hook it might get worse. Never co-sign, not even for your mother.

Your question explains why no one should ever co-sign a loan they do not plan to pay. Lenders ask for co-signers only in cases where thety are very sure the other person is unlikely to pay. Since they figured out in advance that your friend was likely a deadbeat (they were correct), you were actually warned. And what you signed said they had no duty to warn you. So what happened is what always happens - your credit is trashed for 7 years and you owe the whole thing. The only way you can minimize the damage is to payoff the balance in full, and that doesn't fix the late payments to date.